Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) NV (HCME) is a subsidiary of Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. (HCM) and was established in 1972 in Oosterhout, The Netherlands. It is responsible for the manufacture, sales and marketing of Hitachi construction equipment throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

History

In 1968, Hitachi appointed Hovers Constructie NV in

Tilburg Tilburg () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. With a population of 22 ...

, as exclusive importer of Hitachi's range of

construction equipment Heavy equipment, heavy machinery, earthmovers, construction vehicles, or construction equipment, refers to heavy-duty vehicles specially designed to execute construction tasks, most frequently involving earthwork operations or other large con ...

in the

Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...

. In the 1970s the company launched a number of locally designed crawler cranes, which had appeal throughout the world. In 1972 Hovers Constructie NV went out of business. To continue support of existing customer, HCME was incorporated on April 1, 1972, as the first foreign branch of HCM. Responsible for both the manufacture of locally designed products, as well as the distribution of all HCM product through

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, in 1981 the company opened a parts Distribution Center. In 1986 a production, distribution and marketing partnership for plant machinery was agreed between

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

and Hitachi began, with the original plan to build a limited range of Hitachi crawler excavators in Fiat's factory in San Mauro,

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. In the 1990s, HCME increased production at

Oosterhout Oosterhout (; from ''ooster'', "eastern", and ''hout'', "woods") is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in southern Netherlands. The municipality had a population of in . Population centers The municipality of Ooste ...

, starting to produce mini excavators, which with an extension of coverage into

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

lead to a trebling of production volumes. In October 1998,

Euclid Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...

and Hitachi agreed a distribution partnership. This resulted in a new part distribution centre being opened at Oosterhout in April 2000, so that HMCE could take over the exclusive distribution for Euclid dump trucks parts. In March 2001, Hitachi and Fiat terminated their joint venture relationship.

HM Plant

HM Plant was established by Graham Hall in

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. The town had a population of 41,276 at the 2021 census. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies along both sid ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1979, to distribute construction machinery in

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it is one of four regions that altogether make up Southern England. South West England con ...

. The company was appointed a sub-dealer for various brands, including Bomag,

Isuzu , commonly known as Isuzu (, ), is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. Its principal activity is the production, marketing and sale of Isuzu commercial vehicles and diesel engines ...

and Fiat. The company was also appointed a regional sub-dealer for HMCE, but within a year was appointed HMCE's official UK distributor from 1980. After the agreement of the Fiat-Hitachi deal in 1986, the company solely focused on distribution and servicing in the UK of the partnership's products. In January 2000, a management buyout was led by John Jones. To increase the company's marketing appeal, they began to act as main sponsor for various

motorcycle racing The motorcycle sport of racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) includes motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Other categories include hill climbs, drag racing and ...

based teams and series in the UK, mainly through the British Superbike Championship. Japanese rider

Ryuichi Kiyonari (born September 23, 1982 in Saitama, Japan) is a professional motorcycle road racer. He previously rode a Honda CBR1000RR in the MFJ All-Japan Road Race JSB1000 Championship. He was the 2006, 2007 and 2010 British Superbike champion and en ...

won the championship in 2006, 2007 and 2010 riding an HM Plant-sponsored

Honda CBR1000RR The Honda CBR1000RR, marketed in some countries with the Fireblade suffix (capitalized as FireBlade until the 2000s), is a sport bike produced by Honda since 2004 as the seventh generation of the Honda CBR series, CBR Honda Fireblade, Fireblade s ...

. In 2004 HM Plant relocated to a purpose-built site at Hebburn,

South Tyneside South Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is bordered by all four other boroughs in Tyne and Wear: Gateshead to the west, Sunderland in the south, North Tyneside to the north and Newcastl ...

to allow both easier importation from the Netherlands, and easier distribution around the UK. In April 2007, HM Plant became a wholly owned subsidiary of HMCE, and in May 2014 officially rebranded to Hitachi Construction Machinery (UK) Ltd.

Present

The factory was moved to its current site (also in Oosterhout) three years later, when HCME further expanded its operations. In 2002, the Zaxis mini excavator range was introduced to the plant. In the same year, HCME headquarters, including a factory for the construction of medium excavators and a Training and Demonstration Centre, was established in Amsterdam. A wing was added to the existing factory and a new production plant built alongside it in 2006.

Product range

Excavators Excavators are heavy equipment (construction), heavy construction equipment primarily consisting of a backhoe, boom, dipper (or stick), Bucket (machine part), bucket, and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house". The modern excavator's ...

* Wheel loaders * Dumptrucks (

Euclid Trucks The Euclid Trucks was a manufacturer which specialized in heavy equipment for earthworks (engineering), earthmoving, particularly dump trucks, loader (equipment), loaders and wheel tractor-scrapers. Known for its distinctive bright green paint s ...

) * Cranes

References

External links

Company website
{{Hitachi Hitachi subsidiaries Manufacturing companies established in 1968 Companies based in North Brabant Construction equipment manufacturers of the Netherlands Oosterhout Dutch companies established in 1968